


The Last Night

by NerdyJibbsOreo



Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 17:53:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30109764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdyJibbsOreo/pseuds/NerdyJibbsOreo
Summary: Slibbs. Tag to "The First Day" (18x07). Most likely a lone one-shot, but possibly may become a short tag series.
Relationships: Jethro Gibbs/Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane
Comments: 5
Kudos: 61





	The Last Night

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this after "True Believer", but it is a tag to "The First Day" (18x07). I've written a few little Slibbs pieces since she left that connect to this, just to give myself some therapy and wrap my head around her being gone. To try and keep her in the universe in my head. I saw today that Mark's wife Pam is going to be on the show for 4 episodes. I've said over and over for the last couple of years that the only Gibbs ship I would accept as endgame other than Slibbs is if they brought Pam on. I do think that will be something to really look forward to. They're an adorable couple. Still, I really miss Jack and Slibbs moments. I don't know if we'll ever see Jack again, or what the true outcome of Slibbs will ever be in the end. Maybe all we've seen is all we'll ever get. But it was an entertaining ship to enjoy and obsess over for the last three and a half years, and I've had a lot of fun.

He nuzzled her neck with his nose, breathing her in as he rubbed his hand down Jack’s side. Both of them were just trying to catch their breath.

He’d called her after he talked to Jimmy, so that she could help him set up a memorial that night. It had been soothing to hear her voice after what he’d tried to help Palmer through—because in helping Palmer, he’d had to face his own demons too. It was never easy reliving that time of his life. He knew it was going to be beyond hard for Palmer. At least the man still had little Victoria. At the same time, he knew it would be hell for Palmer to parent on his own. He certainly wouldn’t have been able to do it without Shannon. While he never wanted his girls to die in the first place, sometimes it was a strange relief that they had at least gone together. 

He’d been bothered all day that Jack wanted to leave. He didn’t understand. He was sad, maybe even bitter. He had thought about just distancing himself completely, making it easier for if she did leave—and yet after he’d talked to Jimmy, the first thing he’d done was call her, because all he wanted at that point was her.

He’d gone home to grab a suit and picked her up after that. It had been a rather silent car ride. She was clearly still entrenched in her own thoughts, and he was busy trying to ignore the uncertainty of the future and her wanting to leave. It was the new elephant in the room that he really didn’t want to think about. He was just hoping it was some phase, some train of thought that she’d abandon. Maybe she just needed a long vacation, or a temporary retirement like he’d done when he took off to Mexico 15 years ago.

But the fact that she’d also hidden her leaving thoughts from him and had been more distant lately…  
It didn’t bode well in his mind.

When he’d parked the car at work he had turned to look at her. She’d still looked so conflicted.

“Hey,” he whispered, grabbing her hand. “You okay, Jack?”

She’d looked back, giving him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes and she squeezed her other hand over his.

“Yeah. You?”

He’d simply squeezed her hand in return, knowing his attempted smile was even less genuine than hers had been. He settled on a shrug. “We should go inside.”

And then they’d stood beside each other as Jimmy read his letter, and it hit him so much harder than he thought it would.

“I’ll never forget the first time we met.”

He remembered that rainy night with the woman standing beside him. Her desperate knocks on his door, and the way she’d barged in as soon as he’d opened it. Her ridiculous cover that she hadn’t pulled off for more than five seconds, all because she wanted to get her own intel on him. 

“I heard your laugh from across the room and I knew. I never felt anything like it before.”

When she had sat at his table that night, drinking coffee with him, teasing him and laughing. Pouring a mass amount of sugar into her coffee. That beautiful smile of hers. She really had struck something in him that night.

The way she’d barged into his house that night was exactly the way she’d barged into his life after that. It had only taken one day of working with her to know he was entranced, and he’d be hopeless when it came to her.

Then began months upon months of them feeling each other out. Him trying to figure out what exactly was between her and Leon. Him trying to figure out if she was with anyone. Him trying to distance himself and not do anything stupid, because he was sure she had a personal life and a man outside of work. How could she not? She was gorgeous. He knew she probably wouldn’t want someone like him, and that he was too damn old for her anyway. So he’d tried to make her off limits in his mind, tried to keep things professional—even though every glance and interaction made him forget all of that determination in seconds.

Then they’d eventually broken each others walls and confided in their past traumas. It was enough to make things build and progress, for the flirting and touches and looks to mean even more. Then by that one Christmas, they finally let go with that whiskey and gave in to the desire. It had taken him some time after that night to accept that it was actually mutual, and that he hadn’t taken advantage of her or she wasn’t losing her mind. He’d struggled to let her in, because he knew she could do better than him. 

But here they were after the memorial, sinfully tangled in the sheets like they had been so many times since then. But something about this night was different…it wasn’t like the other times. There was something more desperate. Something almost final. And it was the feeling of finality which he was certainly going to ignore and write off as paranoia. 

He kept her pressed close to him, his arm wrapped around her and his face pressed to her neck. It was hard to ignore all the things he wanted to in this quiet aftermath. He couldn’t stop thinking about what she’d said earlier. How she’d been weighing things, and rethinking “what’s important”. 

Was he not important? 

Or was she hoping he’d go with her?

Did she even want him to go with her?

He wasn’t ready to just up and leave. He wasn’t ready to slow things down and retire. Not yet. To be honest, he’d rather go out in a blaze of glory like Grace had teased him about. He’d tried retirement, and it was boring as hell. 

What he wanted was for her to stay. For her to be at NCIS with him, for her to be home with him.

He really wasn’t sure what was going through her head, or what exactly had spurred on her wanting to leave. He wasn’t sure if he was a big part of the reason. He wouldn’t blame her all that much, he knew he was a complete ass at times. 

All he knew is that he wouldn’t be able to change her mind. If she wanted to go, she was going to go. Jack had a determined streak in her, and he wasn’t going to hold her back from what she wanted anyway. All he wanted was for her to be happy. He would support whatever her decision was.

It wasn’t like he’d given her any reason to stay. Like he knew from the beginning, he was too old for her, and he wouldn’t make her happy in the end. Now that she was wanting to leave, he regretted not letting her know exactly how happy she made him. He regretted not pursuing things farther. But at the same time, now that she was wanting to leave—like everyone always did—he was very glad that he hadn’t pursued things farther. It would have just hurt more in the end. 

All he could do right now was enjoy what they had while they had it, and hope that she changed her mind. Hope that by ignoring the subject, it wouldn’t actually come to pass. 

Right now, he could hold her close as he stayed the night. Relish the feel of her, and enjoy sharing her bed (which was far more comfortable than his). Perhaps they’d have it in them to go another round in the morning. Those activities were by far the easiest, and most enjoyable, way of expressing how he felt about her. 

“Jack,” he whispered, kissing her neck and intertwining their fingers. 

“Gibbs.” She turned around snuggled into him, lethargically pressing her lips to his and giving some slow kisses. 

Eventually they fell asleep, not knowing it would be the last night they shared in a bed together for some time, possibly even forever. Not knowing that their time was even shorter than anticipated, and that in a week she’d choose to stay in Afghanistan of all places. Not knowing that their contact was going to be limited and much more of a struggle than if she’d ended up in Costa Rica. Not knowing anything, really, other than that they respected and loved the other.

It was that knowledge and ignorance that helped them to sleep and enjoy their last intimate moments together.


End file.
